GREAT UK Challenge Fund

The GREAT UK Challenge Fund was a merit-based initiative, operating as part of the overall GREAT campaign, open to eligible education, tourism, and trade and investment organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to help them capitalise on opportunities in overseas markets.

VisitEngland administered the Fund acting as Secretariat. Funding decisions were made by a Programme Board comprising of The Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, British Council, UK Trade & Investment, VisitBritain, the Devolved Administrations and Number 10.

Launched in March 2015, the GREAT UK Challenge Fund (UKCF) was a new initiative made available to education, tourism, trade and investment organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to grasp market opportunities. This aim was to create jobs and growth while building the range of partners involved in the delivery of GREAT campaigns worldwide and sparking new ideas.

In 2015/16, £2 million was made available to support the GREAT UK Challenge Fund from the main GREAT campaign budget. Each project has demonstrated the potential to deliver economic benefits such as more business wins for UK companies, new leads from companies looking to invest in the UK, more inbound tourists visiting and spending here, more students applying to study on degree courses at UK universities and improving perceptions of different areas of the UK.

25 projects were awarded from this Fund, administered by VisitEngland on behalf of The GREAT UK Challenge Fund Board. An overview of the successful bidders is below.

This aim was to create jobs and growth while building the range of partners involved in the delivery of GREAT campaigns worldwide and sparking new ideas.